


Who you gonna call?

by laira348



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Dubious Science, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, M/M, Oops, Paranormal Investigators, but not really, feels happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-10-10 05:52:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10430553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laira348/pseuds/laira348
Summary: Victor joins Ruby's team of paranormal investigators for a tv show. There he meets Jefferson, the most annoying being on the planet.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Finally, it's finished. Please enjoy whatever this is. I'm going to sleep.

Victor stepped into the studio drowning in regret. Staring in a paranormal investigation show no longer seemed like such a good idea, but it was too late to back down now. How in the world did he agree to this? He should’ve found a better way to earn money for his research. Like selling his liver for an example.

Ruby lured him in with promises of him being able to work in his field and scientifically proving that magic doesn’t exist. It all sounded too great to be true, until he realized he will have to be in front of a camera.

And he still decided to go through with it. Never let it be said that Victor Whale makes good life choices.

Whatever dignity he had left, he was going to lose it in the foreseeable future.

"Victor!" Ruby waved at him. She was standing in the hall next to two women. He recognized one of them as Mulan Fa, the director.

"Hi, Ruby." Why did he ever think it was a good idea to be friends with her? She always had the worst ideas.

"Victor, this is Dorothy Gale and Mulan Fa. Dorothy, Mulan, this is Dr. Victor Whale."

“Hello,” Mulan said and shook hands with him.

"Uh, hi," he smiled awkwardly.

"Don’t mind Victor,” Ruby grinned. “He’s a bit nervous."

He glared at her. She’s going to regret this.

"Sure," Dorothy shrugged. "Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

 “Come on,” Ruby grabbed his elbow, saving him from further embarrassment. “I’ll show you to the lab.”

Ah, the magic words. The laboratory and research facility were the only things he was looking forward to. Other than spending time with his best friend, of course. He followed Ruby through the bland corridors.

“How were you doing lately?” she asked. “I know it’s been hard-“

“I’m fine,” he interrupted her. The last thing he needed was to talk about _that_. "How’s Granny?"

Ruby looked away.

"Oh. You’re still not talking to her. Aren’t you a little old for teenage rebellion?"

"It’s not teenage rebellion!” she protested. “We just don’t agree on many things. Including what I should be doing with my life. And besides, it’s not like you have any right to judge, considering your relationship with your father."

He paused and turned to look at her. „That’s a really low blow, Ruby.“

She sighed. „I’m sorry. Let’s not talk about any of that.“

“I agree. What about the crew? Do you think we’ll get along?”

“Yeah, if you’ll talk to them instead of hiding in the lab,” she nudged him with her elbow. Victor rolled his eyes. “But yeah. I haven’t met everyone, but those I have are all really nice. I think this job is going to be really good for us.”

“If you think so.”

They spoke about everything and nothing for the rest of the way to the laboratory. They had a lot to talk about; they haven’t seen each other in person in months.

“Here we are.”

Victor smiled widely. The lab was more than he could have hoped for. It put the little study he had in his apartment to shame. He missed the laboratory he had at his disposal when he worked at the university, but this was amazing.

“I’m glad you like it.”

“Hello!”

Victor turned around. A man was jogging towards them. A very attractive man. Oh, boy.

"Sorry I’m late, the traffic’s horrible," he smiled. And what a smile it was. "I’m Jefferson Hatter, one of the hosts.”

He extended his hand to Ruby, who took it. Then he turned to Victor and froze for a moment. They stared into each other’s eyes and Victor could feel the temperature rising.  
  
"Wow. I finally met an angel."

Never mind. This guy was an idiot. He rolled his eyes out of sheer habit he quickly formed after Ruby befriended him when they were children.

“I’m Victor Whale. This is Ruby Lucas. Angels aren’t real.”

“Really?” Jefferson raised his eyebrow. “How can you be so sure, Mr. Whale?”

“There is no evidence that would support their existence. And it’s Dr. Whale, actually.” He normally didn’t care about his title. Ruby was the one who kept calling him doctor left and right with pride he couldn’t quite find in himself.

But this guy was pissing him of.

„Alright, _Doc_. We don’t have proof they exist, but we also don’t have proof they don’t.“

"It’s highly unlikely that they do," Victor said. Jefferson narrowed his eyes and grinned playfully at him.

“But highly unlikely isn’t impossible.”

“You can’t just believe everything that isn’t refuted.”

“And you can’t just dismiss every unlikely possibility.”

Ruby sighed deeply and walked out of the lab. She knew Victor and how stubborn he could be. Jefferson was exactly the kind of person that would get on his nerves. As far as she could tell they were already too absorbed in their argument to even notice she left.

This was not going to end well.

*

Victor was sitting on the front seat of a minivan. He was in charge of navigating while Dorothy drove them to their first case. Ruby and Jefferson were in the back. Jefferson unfortunately sat right behind Victor and kept leaning forward and whispering in his ear. They got off on the wrong foot so Victor wasn’t all that surprised that Jefferson decided to spend the majority of the ride making fun of him.

"Could you lend me the map?” He was so close that Victor could feel his breath on the back of his neck. He suppressed a shiver. “I keep getting lost in your eyes."

"Get lost somewhere else," he whispered back to him and then said to Dorothy, "Turn right at the crossroad."

He decided ignoring Jefferson would probably be the best idea but just couldn’t help making another comment. “Besides, you can’t get lost in my eyes; we’re not even looking at each other.”

Jefferson laughed quietly. “You’ve got a point.”

“Of course I do.”

Somehow, they managed the rest of the ride without too much trouble. Victor didn’t pay much attention when they got there – he wasn’t there to talk to the callers, thank god. That was Ruby’s and Jefferson’s job.  As far as he could tell, the family thought their house was haunted. He resisted the urge to look straight into the camera and prepared the equipment.

He wasn’t entire sure why he was needed in the field. He had a doctorate; an idiot could set up a heat sensitive camera and an EMF detector.

“Do you need any help?”

Victor looked up. Of-fucking-course.

“No, I’m fine,” he replied, resolutely not looking at Jefferson. “It’s not quantum physics.”

“From what I’m told I doubt quantum physics would be that much of a problem to you.”

Victor shrugged.

“Right. I’m…gonna go see if Ruby needs help with something,” Jefferson said and left. Victor sighed and kept on working.

*

Just like Victor thought they found no evidence of ghost or poltergeists or anything out of the ordinary, really. He still had some things to look at in the lab when they got back, but he didn’t really think there will be anything interesting.

He was glad that Ruby called shotgun for the ride back. Of course, that meant Jefferson was now next to him, which probably would’ve been worse had Jefferson not fallen asleep pretty quickly.

And Victor, who usually found himself unable to fall asleep, soon joined him.

“And the boys are out,” Ruby informed Dorothy with a grin.

“Good. At least we don’t have to listen to…whatever that was supposed to be.”

“Take the next exit. I think they were flirting? Kinda? Victor’s horribly awkward with guys he finds hot, so there’s that. Well, he’s awkward with everyone, but that’s another story.”

Dorothy chuckled. “That would explain it. Anyway, how have you been? We haven’t really gotten a chance to talk yet. It’s…been a while.”

“Yeah,” Ruby sighed. “I’ve been alright I guess.”

The awkward tension didn’t follow just Victor for once it seemed. Ruby and Dorothy…had history would be one way of putting it. They knew each other back in college and were quite good friends until Dorothy went back home to Kansas.

And no matter how much Ruby tried to keep in touch, after a while Dorothy just stopped writing back.

To say she was surprised to see her at her new workplace would be an underestimatement.

“How about you?”

“Can’t complain,” Dorothy shrugged. “How’s Granny?”

“We’re not talking to each other at the moment. How’s aunt Em?”

“She died.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

It apparently wasn’t, because the awkward silence stretched on.

“I tried contacting you, you know,” Dorothy said after a while. “But I wasn’t very successful.”

“Contacting me? Why would you do that after ignoring my messages?”

“I didn’t ignore you,” she protested. “Why would- oh, god, that’s what you thought? I didn’t realize how it would look.”

“Oh, really? You didn’t realize-“

“No, Ruby, I lost my phone! Embarrassing as it is. And I didn’t remember your number.”

“You have my address!”

“I had it in my phone,” she shrugged, her cheeks tinted red. “My memory isn’t very good it seems.”

“I wrote you a letter!”

“Uh, did you? I never got any.”

Ruby laughed hysterically and rested her head on the dash. “I can’t believe it. All this time. I thought you gave up on me.”

“Never,” she promised fervently.

“Well,” she smiled. “It’s a good thing we found each other again, Kansas.”

*

To the surprise of no one, there was no sign of paranormal activity, even when Victor checked everything in the lab. This part of the job he could tell he was going to enjoy. He got to explain how everything worked, to show how it’s done. There was even going to be a short segment each episode where they look at a faked ghost sighting and he recreates it to explain how they’ve done it.

It was perfect and it definitely made the horrible field work worth it. He even found that he didn’t mind the camera so much, especially since Dorothy, who was the main camerawoman, was so nice.

Besides, Ruby loved it here. She smiled at the camera like it was natural for her. And if he didn’t know her so well, he probably would’ve thought so. But he remembered her first attempt at acting for that Granny’s commercial. He still asked her if she has avocadoes when he wanted to tease her, but he was proud of how far she has come.

But not even that could make him watch the show.

The part of the job that he definitely didn’t enjoy was Jefferson. It was like he liked being annoying. The fact that Victor was the only one who felt that way was even worse. Everyone found him charming, if a little eccentric.

So of course he vented to Ruby as soon as he had the change.

“I hate him,” Victor complained.

“Who?” Ruby asked, even though she had a pretty good idea on who he meant.

“Jefferson. He’s just so annoying.”

“Are you sure you don’t just have a crush?” she smirked.

“What?! No, of course not! I mean, he’s attractive, don’t get me wrong, but as soon as he opens his mouth it all goes away.”

“Sure, buddy.”

He frowned. Well, two can play at this game.

“And speaking of colleagues and crushes, how’s Dorothy?”

“What?!” Ruby shrieked. Actually honest-to-god shrieked. Victor wasn’t sure if he ever heard her hit such a high note.“I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

“Sure, buddy,” he smirked and then added, just to be an asshole: “And what is it with you and girls named Dorothy anyway? Do you crush on every Dorothy you meet?”

“Uh, well,” she shrugged nervously. “I only know one.”

“Wait – that’s your Dorothy?” he said, incredulous. “The one who left and then ignored you? I’m gonna-“

“No, Vic, no.” She put her hands on his chest to stop him from going and doing something stupid.“Turns out it’s all a misunderstanding. We just lost contact. That happens.”

“Sure. Why am I only hearing about it now?”

“Because I knew you’d overreact. And you have enough going on; you don’t need to worry about me as well.”

“I don’t need to – _Ruby_. Yeah, I’m not going to pretend that I’m okay, but you’re my best friend. I love you. You can tell me anything. Please don’t hold stuff in for my sake.”

Ruby stood still for a moment and then she grabbed his shoulder and drew him into a hug.

“You’re not the only one who’s allowed bottle up things,” she mumbled into his neck. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

“I know you did. I’m just not ready to talk about it.”

“I know. But if you ever do-“

“You’re here. I know.”

*

After that horrible cry fest they decided to go to the cafeteria to hang out with other crewmembers. Victor was mostly silent as Ruby chatted with Mulan, Jefferson and Merida, the publicist, but he got up when Dorothy came in.

“You! I don’t care if it was on purpose, if you ever do anything like that to Ruby again I will-“

“Victor Francis Whale!” Ruby barked. “You promised me you won’t overreact.”

“I promised no such thing.”

Ruby ignored him. “I can take care of myself, thank you very much; you don’t have to yell at her!”

“And you don’t have to yell at me.”

“Sorry to interrupt whatever it is that you three are fighting about,” Jefferson said. “But your middle name is Francis?”

Victor buried his head in his hands. “Great.”

“Don’t you tease him about it!”

“Oh, you can defend me, but I can’t defend you?” Victor raised an eyebrow.

“I can’t believe your middle name is Francis.”

“I don’t know what’s so weird about that.”

Jefferson shrugged. “Just didn’t think you’d have a name like that.”

“Well, my father must have hated me even then.”

“Victor…” Ruby said.

“What? It’s true.”

“I’m not even going to pretend I know what this was all about, but I’d prefer if you’d all stay alive, so try not to kill each other,” and with that Mulan got up and left with Merida.

Victor sighed. “Sorry I was mean, Dorothy. I just don’t want Ruby to get hurt.”

“It’s okay. I don’t want her to get hurt either.”

“I can still take care of myself, you know,” Ruby mumbled.

“And you,” he pointed at Jefferson. “Don’t call me Francis. It’s enough that I let you call me by my first name.”

“Sure,” he smiled. “Wait, I can call you by your first name?”

“Oh, god,” Victor sighed as he turned around and walked away. “Why did I say anything?”

“See you later, Victor!” Jefferson called, probably grinning like an idiot again.

*

"Victor?" Jefferson grinned when they were on set together once. He called him Victor all the time now. That was tolerable, unlike the one time he tried calling him Vic.

"Yes?" he said, preparing for the worst.

"If you were words on a page, you’d be _fine_ print."

Victor sighed. This happened constantly, not that it helped him understand why he did it. He obviously wasn’t really flirting with him; why would he? He probably just found it funny.

He rarely did it while on camera, though. It was probably going to get cut, but he was glad he prepared a nice counter line anyway.

"Are you the terms and conditions? Because I don’t care what you have to say."

Ruby yelled something in the background. Jefferson’s grin got even bigger. Victor just spun on his heel and walked out.

It was a blessing or maybe a curse that Victor didn’t watch the show. Because if he did he would see Jefferson watching him leave with a lovestruck expression.

*

Ruby cringed as she read the responses. The show had nice reviews so far, but some of the fans, well, they were convinced Victor and Jefferson would make an amazing couple. Especially after the last episode.

Not that she didn’t agree with them. It was just that neither of them would react well if they found out.

“What exactly am I looking at?” Mulan asked after a moment of silence.

Merida raised her eyebrow. “What do you think?”

“I think people are noisy. I also think Victor won’t be happy.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Ruby muttered.

“It’s not like they’re wrong,” Dorothy shrugged. “They flirt constantly; it’s giving me a headache.”

“We could do something about it,” Merida suggested.

“No one is meddling with anyone’s love lives on my show,” Mulan said. “There’s no way to stop the fandom from saying what they want to say; let’s just hope the guys don’t find it.”

*

Apparently, the show was a success. Victor was surprised by the number of people willing to spend their time watching them run around trying to find ghosts. They had a solid fan base and following on social media. He got himself a twitter account and regretted it almost instantly.

The fans continued watching them despite the fact that they didn’t encounter anything interesting yet. The only even remotely entertaining episode would probably the Halloween special, which was pretty much just them pulling pranks each other.

All the pranks were harmless, of course, but entertaining.

One of Jefferson’s pranks was arranging the dummies Victor had for experiments to spell out Francis, all Deadpool style. Victor was enough of a geek to watch Marvel, even if he preferred space to superheroes, but Jefferson was only a fan because his daughter loved the movies. Grace was twelve, so Victor doubted she saw Deadpool, which meant neither did Jefferson. He suspected it was Ruby’s idea, but had no evidence other than this.

As revenge, Victor created werewolf-like footprints in the mud in the forest near the studio. Ruby liked to run there and he knew with her love of wolves, she’ll flip out. That Jefferson liked to go for walks there, well, that was just a bonus.

The looks on their faces were priceless.

*

Since no one trusted Jefferson’s navigating skill and after he almost drove them into a ditch, no one trusted him to drive either, he always had time to spare on the road. Which he usually used to tease Victor.

„On a scale of one to ten you’re a nine and I’m the one you need.“

Victor turned and raised his eyebrow. „Excuse me? I’m a ten.“

Ruby snickered. The traitor.

“Are you laughing at me, Red?”

“No!” she said, trying to hold in the giggles. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Victor rolled his eyes.

*

This case took place in a small town with horrible weather. Not only was the caller, Mr. Chambers, convinced that there was a ghost in his house, ha was also convinced that it was the ghost of his mother who died a few years ago.

His daughter Anne, on the other hand, was sure all the noises and disruptions were thanks to their cat. Victor liked that theory. He also liked the cat, Mr. Whiskers, who was very cuddly. Victor even forgave him for sitting on his things.

Most of the noises were coming from the cellar, so that’s where he set up his equipment. Mr. Whiskers curled up next to his notebook, purring contentedly as Victor idly petted him.

The light from the small window was not quite enough anymore as the sun slowly set, but he was too lazy to get up and turn on the light. He was not leaving this spot until someone made him. He scribbled down a couple notes –the most diabolical sounds he could hear came from the boiler and went back to the book he was reading to pass the time.

Before he even noticed it was dark out. Victor may have not believed in ghosts, but that didn’t change the fact that he was a little scared as he checked the equipment for any changes.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he yelped and jumped up a little when he felt something touch his arm. He turned around, scared shitless, and, well.

Jefferson sneaking up on him shouldn’t come as a surprise either. He was wearing his signature obnoxious grin that was as annoying as it was attractive.

“Seriously, Hatter?” he said, frowning at the man in question.“Are you twelve?“

„On a scale of one to ten? Yes.“

Victor rolled his eyes. „And you called me a nine,” he muttered.

Jefferson must have heard him though, because he chuckled. Or he just chuckled for no reason. Seriously, Victor wouldn’t be surprised with this guy.

“Turn the light on, will you? I can’t see a thing.”

“Sure thing, Doc.”

He did as Victor asked and then, for some reason, didn’t leave. He just stood there while Victor worked, babbling on about something. The readings all seemed normal, other than some slight fluctuations that probably didn’t mean anything.

He happily ignored Jefferson until he grabbed him by the shoulders.

“What-“

“The light just flickered,” Jefferson pointed at the lamp, fascinated.

“Hatter,” he said, rolling his eyes. “The lights flicker all the time.”

“In houses with reported ghost activity?”

“In all houses,” Victor replied. It was still not enough for Jefferson.

“What if it’s a sign?”

“It’s not a sign. All the readings are completely normal.”

Jefferson sighed in disappointment. Victor sensed the perfect opportunity to tease him back.

“What, did you get scared by a flickering light?” he raised an eyebrow.“You’re a paranormal investigator. What are you going to do when the demons show up?”

Jefferson glared at him. “Use you as a human shield, probably. You’d protest, but you don’t believe it’s really demons, so you walk right into a trap.”

Victor frowned. “Well, right now I’m going to walk out of here and away from this conversation.”He grabbed the knob to leave, but the door didn’t open. He tried again but still, nothing happened.

He turned back to Jefferson, now really angry. “Did you seriously lock us in here?”

“What do you mean lock us in? We’re locked in?”

Victor took a deep breath. Great. They were trapped. Apparently. And Jefferson didn’t do it, which meant he didn’t have the key.

“Oh, boy,” he whispered. Mr. Whiskers head butted his leg, but Victor ignored him.

“Are you okay?” Jefferson asked. He seemed uncharacteristically worried.

“I’m a little claustrophobic,” Victor admitted.

“Oh. Is it very bad?”

“Not yet, but I don’t intend to stick around and wait for it to get worse.” Victor banged on the door. “Ruby! Open the damn door, this isn’t funny! You know I’m claustrophobic, come on!”

His breath shortened. His chest hurt. His hands were shaking as he banged on the door again.

“Open up!”

“I’m going to try to call them,” Jefferson said and took out his phone. But before he could dial either of their coworkers, they heard footsteps.

“Victor?” Ruby called.“What’s happened, where are you?”

“Locked in the cellar with Hatter like an idiot!” he yelled. “Could you walnuts unlock the door?!”

He heard her again, this time from a smaller distance. “Why are you locked in?”

“I don’t know! We didn’t do it.”

“I don’t see a key anywhere. I’ll go for Mr. Chambers.”

“Don’t leave,” he whispered. Ruby’s presence was a little calming, even if she couldn’t help.

“Wait,” Jefferson said.“Would you happen to have a bobby pin with you?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Slide it under the door.”

She did. Jefferson picked it up and kneeled in front of the door. Victor focused on calming his breathing.

After a short moment, the door clicked open.

Ruby ran inside, drawing him into a hug. “Are you alright?”

“It’s better now. Thanks, Red.”

“Don’t thank me, I didn’t do anything.”

“Right. Thank you, Jefferson,” he smiled.

“No problem,” Jefferson replied and smiled back at him.

*

They all agreed that the door probably just got stuck; it wasn’t used that often. Even Jefferson didn’t try to push his paranormal theories this time. Maybe he sensed Victor’s discomfort. Or maybe he just wasn’t in a mood to argue.

Victor might have been too fast to put him in the arch-nemesis box. He wasn’t that bad. He was just annoying and got on Victor’s nerves. But he was a good person under all of that, and Victor should not be a total douche to him.

He knocked on the door, which was ajar. Jefferson was sitting cross legged on the bed and holding a tablet in his hand. He looked up when he heard the knock.

“Just a moment,” he said.

Victor waited while he finished his video call.

"But I get scared at night, papa," Grace said. "I get scared when you’re not there and I’m alone."

"There’s nothing wrong with being scared, Grace. But you’re not alone; you’re with Aunt Alice. You can go to her if you need anyone, okay? And you have your rabbit with you. He’ll protect you."

Well, that was bullshit if Victor’s ever heard it. What good could a plushie do against any danger? But he saw the girl’s face, the peace such a simple lie brought her and decided to let this one slide. Just this once.

“Okay, papa. Good night.”

“Good night, sweetheart.” He set the tablet aside and turned to Victor. “What do you need?”

“You said you wanted to look at the irregularities?”

“Right, right, come in.”

He did and handed Jefferson his notes, along with a printed graph.

“As you can see, the fluctuations are slightly above the norm. But there’s not enough to consider it evidence. It’s too random and small for us to be able to tell if it’s anything.”

Jefferson nodded, studying the graph carefully. “Can you keep me updated? It’s not much, but more than any of our previous cases.”

“Yeah, of course. I wouldn’t build my hopes up, though. It’s probably nothing.”

Jefferson smirked. “One of us has to believe.”

*

Victor was a little reluctant to come back to the Chambers’ house after the incident. But he would rather face his fears than the teasing that would surely ensue if he chickened out.

So he came back, left the door to the cellar opened just in case and did his job. He wasn’t alone today. He couldn’t decide if it was good or not.

He did his best to ignore the camera as Dorothy tried to get some nice shots. Ruby and Jefferson spoke of theories on what could be happening, if anything was happening.

It wasn’t, Victor would say, his equipment just wasn’t precise enough. He had to admit, however, that they were extremely unlucky on this case. Not that Jefferson didn’t have enough bad luck on his own already. He wasn’t clumsy, not exactly; there was a strange elegance in his movements even. But if there was something that could go wrong, it would find him.

This time, it took a form of Jefferson tripping over thin air and falling right into a mirror.

“Shit, that hurts,” Jefferson swore, clutching his arm to his chest. Then he winced and looked to the camera. “Sorry, kids. It’s not as bad as it looks, Gracie. But Dorothy should probably leave anyway.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I can handle it,” Victor said. He took the medical kit he always carried to cases just to be sure. “Take a seat, Jefferson.”

“Shouldn’t he go to the hospital?” Ruby asked. “Not that I don’t trust you, but you can’t treat everything.”

“No, it’s fine. But it’s just a bit of glass,” he shrugged as he examined his arm. “Can you go find some more bandages, Ruby? I’m not sure I have enough.”

She did as he asked. Victor fished a flask out of his pocket and dabbed a cotton ball in it.

“Stupid shattering mirrors,” Jefferson muttered and then added nervously. “Wait. What are you doing?”

“We’re out of antiseptic. Alcohol’s the next best thing.”

“And why do you have alcohol on you?”

“Communicating with you is nearly impossible sober,” he joked.

“Victor.”

He ignored the disapproving tone and started prying the glass out of Jefferson’s hand and forearm. The glass shattered in quite conveniently sized pieces, so there was no need for stitching.

“Ow!”

"Sorry.” In his experience, which wasn’t all that much, it was best to distract people from the pain. “Aren’t you used to it, though? There’s no way you made it this far in life without getting stabbed."

“Oh, I’ve been stabbed, actually.”

Victor’s jaw may have dropped. He was just joking. Someone actually stabbed him?

“Lightly. A long time ago. I kinda passed out, so I don’t remember much,” he shrugged, as if it was of no consequence. “Anyway, it pays to have a medic on the team."

"I don’t think I would make a very good doctor."

"Other than your poor bedside manner, I’m not complaining. Your...other attributes more than make up for that." His gaze traveled across Victor’s face and lingered on his lips. But Victor was too focused on his work to notice Jefferson’s attention.

"You know I could just let you bleed out, right?"

"You wouldn’t," Jefferson smiled. And he was right. No matter how annoyed he was, he would never do something like that. Not to anyone and especially to someone he knew and...tolerated. More or less.

“I found some more bandages!” Ruby called as she walked back into the room.

“Thank you, Ruby. I’m almost done.”He dabbed the wound with the alcohol-soaked cotton balls, quickly hiding the flask from her. Jefferson noticed, though, following his hand with a pointed look. Victor was sure he would hear about it later.

He bandaged his hand, which got the worst of it – of course he had enough bandages, Jefferson’s eyes narrowed almost comically – and smiled. “There you go. It should be alright now. Besides, aren’t broken mirrors supposed to be good luck?”

Jefferson chuckled. “They are. Not sure it applies when you fall on it and shatter it in the process.”

“Next time, try getting to Narnia instead of Wonderland.”

“I’m not sure I would enjoy being stuck in a closet.”

Victor chuckled. “Yeah, point taken.”

*

Mr. Chambers wasn’t angry at all. The mirror was antique and no one used it anymore. It belonged to his mother, which was one of the reasons he thought she was trying to contact them.

But try as they might, they didn’t find any evidence. And nothing strange happened after the mirror. Just some odd noises that Victor figured are coming from the pipes and a couple of odd readings on his devices. So they left, once again, with nothing to report.

Victor was anxiously awaiting intervention, either coming in the form of a conversation with Jefferson, or a stern talking to by Ruby, because it was quite likely that Jefferson told her. Oh, she’d probably be disappointed in him and he wasn’t sure he could take that.

But after a while he realized it wasn’t coming. Ruby was none-the-wiser and Jefferson didn’t say anything about it to him. He probably figured it wasn’t his place. Or, more likely, he didn’t care that much.

*

„If you were a fruit, you’d be a _fine_ apple,“ Jefferson grinned at Victor one morning.

“Why would the apple – oh, pineapple.” Victor groaned. „Okay, you’ve hit a new low. That’s a horrible pun.”

“No, I think it’s good.”

“I pity your daughter. The quality of dad jokes in your household must be staggering.”

Jefferson just chuckled. It seemed that they were back to the bad pick up lines. One of these would be quite enough for one day, but apparently Jefferson was feeling chatty today. He approached him again after lunch.

„If you were a vegetable, you’d be a _cute_ cumber.“

Victor winced. This man had horrible taste of humor. „Okay, I take back everything I’ve said. Fineapple’s definitely better. Seriously, where do you find this stuff?“

„The internet is quite handy for these things.“

“I’m very disappointed in humanity right now.”

Even after Victor’s harsh judgment regarding puns, Jefferson was still not finished. Third time’s the charm, right? Right.

„If you were a flower, you’d be a _damn_ delion.“

„You know dandelion is a weed, right?“

“Um. Okay. In that case: Are you weed, because you are smoking hot?”

“Not that kind of weed, Hatter.”

After that day, Jefferson kind of avoided Victor. He would never admit it, but missed Jefferson and his stupid pick up lines. He had to remind himself that he wasn’t really flirting with him; he just thought he was funny.

Either way, he was relieved when Jefferson approached him two weeks later.

„Are you made of copper and tellurium? Because you‘re CuTe.“

Victor threw his head back and laughed. He was always so serious and grumpy, Jefferson had never seen him laugh like that.

„Are you nitrogen oxide? Because NO. But I’ll give you points for effort.“

“I made you laugh. I count that as a success.”

Victor looked away, blushing a little.

“And you gotta admit, we just had pretty good chemistry.”

Victor giggled. He quickly put his hand in front of his mouth, trying to stifle it.

“Did-did you just-“

“Nope!” he turned on his heel and headed out. “You heard nothing. Goodbye, Hatter.”

“You’re adorable!” Jefferson called after him.

*

“Ruby?” Dorothy asked. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

Her crush on Dorothy was coming back in full force now that they spend time together again. It was getting a little embarrassing, but at least she could admit it to herself. Unlike some people.

“Um, I thought, since neither of us is on good terms with our family members it might be nice to spend Christmas together?” She finished the sentence quickly.

“That’s a great idea! I’d love to spend the holidays with you. I’m going to be with Victor, though, so if you don’t mind joining us, we’d love to have you.”

“That’d be nice, but are you sure Victor won’t mind? He doesn’t like me very much.”

“I’m pretty sure he won’t, but you can ask him if it’ll ease your conscience.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

*

Victor knocked on the door. They were celebrating Christmas at Ruby’s since Dorothy had a roommate and his apartment looked more like a work place than a home, and a messy work place at that. Ruby’s words.

Ruby let him in, warning him to steer clear of kitchen, because he might be good at many things, but cooking was not one of them. Dorothy was already there, helping Ruby prepare dinner.

He wasn’t exactly thrilled that she was here. They weren’t close and he was often uncomfortable with people he only knew for a short time. But it made Ruby happy and there weren’t many things he wouldn’t do for her happiness.

At least it was only Dorothy. He probably wouldn’t survive more people. But luckily Mulan and Merida were in Scotland with Merida’s family, and Jefferson was spending the holidays with his daughter Grace at his sister’s house. So it was just them.

And even if he was Ruby’s bestest friend he was beginning to feel like a third wheel. But there was a big plus to all of this: Dorothy brought her dog. So he was never quite alone.

*

The dinner was quite pleasant. Victor managed small talk with Dorothy and mostly stuck to her dog, but he didn’t look too unsettled. Ruby was worried how he’ll take celebrating the holidays without his family, just like she was last year, but so far he looked fine.

She didn’t let that fool her and did her best to make him feel included, even if she did spend a lot of time talking to Dorothy. But it seemed that Victor was actually enjoying himself. Or he got better at lying. She never could tell with him.

*

“Are you feeling alright?”

Dorothy looked up. Ruby was standing next to her, a worried little frown on her face.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just miss Em,” she shrugged. “But it’s nice not to be alone.”

Toto barked.

“Yes, I know. I have you. I meant other people, you jealous dummy.”

Ruby laughed.

“Not to interrupt the moment,” Victor said from where he was sitting on the couch with Toto. “But you might want to look above your heads.”

They did and froze for a moment. They were standing right under mistletoe.

“Huh,” Ruby replied eloquently. They were no longer looking up; they were looking at each other. Their eyes kept falling to the other’s lips.

“Should we...?” Dorothy asked nervously. Ruby looked just as spooked, but she nodded. They moved closer at a snail’s pace until their lips met.

Victor patted Toto. “Come on, boy. Let’s give them some privacy,” he whispered and went to the guest room. They didn’t even notice.

*

In the interest of being polite and preventing people from calling him, Victor send everyone a text message to wish them happy holidays. He also texted Granny to let her know that Ruby was okay. He stubbornly ignored the contact labeled ‘Dad’ and checked his twitter.

There wasn’t much interesting going on, other than holiday wishes, but Jefferson posted a selfie. He was there with his daughter and a bunch of other people Victor didn’t recognize. Most of them were wearing ugly Christmas sweaters. Jefferson was wearing a t-shirt that said ‘I want to believe’ that apparently his sister got him as a present.

Victor found himself smiling at his phone like an idiot.

*

“So,” Ruby said conversionaly over breakfast on Christmas morning. “I don’t remember hanging mistletoe.”

Victor shrugged. Ruby was holding Dorothy’s hand under the table, so he felt exactly zero remorse for interfering. “Are you complaining?”

Ruby chuckled. “No. I just didn’t think you would approve of us, much less help make it happen.”

“I want you to be happy,” he said simply.

She smiled. “Well, I want you to be happy too. Have you done anything about your little crush?”

And the nice moment was over. “I don’t have a crush!”

Dorothy looked up from her plate. “Yeah, right. You just happen to accidentally stare at Jefferson’s ass, like, all the time.”

“How would you know we’re talking about him? We’re not talking about him! I hate Jefferson.” Well, that was a lie. He wasn’t sure what his feelings concerning Jefferson were, but he definitely didn’t hate him. Anymore.

Dorothy rolled her eyes. “Okay, so you want to have hate sex with him. Whatever.”

“Ruby, tell your girlfriend to stop,” he whined.

“Go on, Kansas. He needs to hear it from someone other than me.”

“Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal,” he muttered. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I don’t hate him as much now as I did in the beginning. I suppose I tolerate him as a colleague. End of the story. Now why don’t we go back to talking about you two? That’s way more interesting.”

The women smiled at each other sappily. “Not that much to talk about. You know I liked Dorothy for a long time. Apparently she likes me back.”

They were so sweet together.

The rest of the morning went smoothly. They exchanged gifts, drank non-alcoholic eggnog, took photos for social media (at Ruby’s insistence), and watched sappy movies. Victor left after lunch; as much as he enjoyed this he needed to get away from people.

He hid in his apartment and worked on his projects until New Year’s Eve when Ruby dragged him to a party. Most of their coworkers were there. Victor stuck to Ruby for some time, but unlike him, she actually wanted to talk to everyone. Eventually he deserted her and hid in a dark corner. He sat there at a table, nursing his drink, pondering how much longer till it’s socially acceptable for him to leave.

“Hey, Victor.”

Victor looked up, sighing internally. He knew Jefferson was there, but he hoped he won’t have to see him. Since he decided not to antagonize him feelings of other kind were staring to rear their ugly heads. He was beginning to worry that maybe Ruby wasn’t that far off with her crush theory. Maybe.

“Hi, Jefferson,” he smiled politely. “How are you?”

“I’m great, I just,” he sighed and looked over his shoulder. “Could I hide here with you? There was a handsy drunk at the bar and I said someone was waiting on me to get away, but I couldn’t find anyone I know till I saw you.”

So much for being alone. But it wasn’t like he could say no. “Yeah, of course, sit down.”

Jefferson did. He looked quite relieved. “Thanks. I’ll get out of your hair as soon as I find Dorothy or someone.”

“Good luck with that. I’ll bet you ten bucks she’s making out with Ruby somewhere.”

Jefferson raised his eyebrow. “Oh? Did they get together? It was about damn time.”

“Yeah,” Victor nodded. “I may have put mistletoe in Ruby’s apartment.”

 “Good thinking,” Jefferson laughed and then he tensed. “Shit.”

“What is it?”

“Ah, just, you know, that guy from the bar is heading for our table.”

Suddenly, Victor was hit by a stroke of genius. He moved his chair closer to Jefferson and put his arm around his waist.

“Not that I’m complaining, but what are you doing?”

“Just trust me, okay?”

“I do trust you.”

Victor decided not to think on how that made him feel. “Alright. Um, lean closer to me and just… pretend we’re talking.”

Jefferson rested his head on Victor’s shoulder and Victor’s heartbeat totally didn’t quicken. “We are talking.”

“You know what I mean,” Victor raked his free hand through his hair in frustration.

“Sure, I do, sugar.” He leaned in even closer so he was basically murmuring in Victor’s ear. “Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?”

“Um,  wha-“

“Because I’m still a little sore from the impact.”

Victor laughed. “Seriously, Jeff? That’s the best you can do?”

“Are you implying you can do better?”

“Is that a challenge?”

He turned his head to look at Jefferson, which proved to be a huge mistake. Their faces were only inches apart. Victor was starting to have trouble breathing.

“Yeah, go on. Impress me.”

He looked away and thought about it. “Well, if Internet Explorer is brave enough to ask you to be your default browser, I’m brave enough to ask you out!”

“God, you’re bad,” Jefferson laughed.

“I made you laugh. That counts as a success, right?”

Jefferson’s laugh died away into a soft smile. “Yeah.”

“Your turn.”

“Uh, knock, knock.”

“A knock knock joke, really? Ugh, who’s there?”

“Not that drunk guy, because your plan apparently worked.”

Victor looked around and really, the guy was nowhere to be seen.

“You sound surprised.”

Jefferson shrugged. “Not really. Anyway, it’s your turn now.”

“I have something in mind, but it’s even worse.”

“Come on, let me hear it. How bad can it be?”

He sighed. “There are eight planets in the solar system, but there will be only seven after I destroy Uranus.”

Jefferson put his head in his hands, snickering. “Oh god, I regret everything. You’re even worse than me. And to prove it even further I have one final bad pick up line of the evening. Can I borrow a kiss? I promise I’ll give it back."

"I doubt that," Victor scoffed.

"Ah, so you’re saying you’d like me to kiss you back," he smirked

"What? That’s not what I-You can’t kiss me back if I don’t kiss you first,” Victor stuttered out and then quickly added. “Which I won’t."

He realized that he still had his arm around Jefferson, but since Jefferson didn’t protest or even comment on it he made no move to remove it. So they stayed like that, curled up together. Victor figured he could use some platonic cuddling. Or whatever the hell this was. He wasn’t in a mood to try and figure it out.

They talked and time passed. Jefferson was actually quite nice to talk to and less exhausting to be around than most people. Even with that, Victor was surprised when he checked the time and found it was almost midnight already. He didn’t plan to stay so long, but he was actually having fun. Weird.

*

“Just a minute till midnight!”

“Great,” Victor frowned. “We’re about to be surrounded by people who are either yelling or kissing.”

“We could join them.”

“Yeah, I’m not drunk enough to just start screaming.”

Jefferson shot him a look that Victor couldn’t decipher. “You’re an idiot.”

“I’m sure you’re right, but why?”

Jefferson just shook his head and then his hand was at Victor’s neck and his face was close and then suddenly they were kissing. Cheers surrounded them as the countdown came to zero, but Victor paid them no mind and tangled his hand in Jefferson’s hair.

They drew back for breath eventually.

“Happy New Year,” Jefferson smiled.

“Happy New Year,” Victor replied, dazed.

“I, uh, I’m gonna go get myself a drink, do you want something?”

“No, I’m good.”

“Okay. I’ll be right back.”

Victor sat there, staring at nothing in particular. What the fuck just happened? Did Jefferson kiss him? More importantly, did he really kiss him back?

He’d blame it on the alcohol, but he barely drank. He was just a little tipsy.

This was too much. The thought of Jefferson coming back and wanting to talk was horrifying. He’ll tell him how it didn’t mean anything, that it was just a kiss.

And damnit, Victor was supposed to agree with that. He disliked Jefferson. He hated him. So why did he all of a sudden want to kiss him and never stop?

He couldn’t deal with all this right now. So he did what any reasonable adult would; he ran.

*

Ruby smiled and sipped her drink.

“Ruby!” Jefferson called.

“Hey, Jefferson. Happy New Year!” she went and hugged him.

“Happy New Year. Um, have you seen Victor? I, uh, wanted to ask him something.”

“Sorry, I haven’t seen him in hours. I think he left way before midnight. He doesn’t like parties or big gatherings of people. He gets tired of human contact easily. Was it anything important?”

“Uh…no,” he lied. “I guess I’ll give him space and talk to him when we get back to work.”

*

Victor waited for Jefferson to call him. He was preparing to hear how it was just a mistake they should forget about all the while wishing to hear something entirely different.

But the call never came. Guess he wasn’t even worth a call. Jefferson probably already forgot all about it. Victor didn’t think that they could ever be together, but he thought that they were maybe becoming friends.

Guess not.

Everything was back to normal. They were civil, but didn’t talk to each other more than it was necessary. Which was absolutely fine with Victor. He hated Jefferson, after all.

He didn’t miss the flirting Jefferson never really meant anyway, or the talking and laughter. And he definitely didn’t miss Jeff’s lips on his. Nope.

*

It was almost the end of January and they still haven’t talked about it.

Victor was at peace with never talking about it at this point. At least he and Jefferson stopped avoiding each other and even talked to one another sometimes.

It took a little longer for the pickup lines to come back.

„You dropped something!“ Jefferson called after Victor. He turned around.„My jaw,“ Jefferson smiled. The smile was much more honest and timid than usual, but that still didn’t convince Victor. Not after everything.

„You dropped something,“ He pointed to the ground. „Your standards.“

„I’ll have you know I never had any to begin with,“ Jefferson started softly. „But you’re definitely not standard dropping. Not for me and not for anyone. You’re an amazing guy. You’re smart, caring, handsome and okay, it’s a shame that you don’t believe in the paranormal, but other than that…“

Victor laughed before he could stop himself. Jefferson thought he was handsome? Victor knew, of course, that he was objectively attractive, but that was different from finding someone he liked thought so.

„Ah, see, you even laugh prettily. Don’t put yourself down.”

He didn’t know what to say to that. For some reason he couldn’t look away from Jefferson’s face. Or his lips, specifically.

„Victor!” Ruby called. “Can I speak with you for a moment?“

Victor jumped away from Jefferson.

„Yes, of course.“

He had no reason to feel bad. It’s not like Ruby interrupted them from anything. But still. He turned around before he could lose his nerve.

“Jefferson? Thank you.”

“My pleasure.”

Victor couldn’t stop smiling as he walked after Ruby.

*

Ruby led him to a room and closed the door. She turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

“What was going on when I came in?”

“Nothing!” he said quickly. Too quickly, probably. “We were just talking.”

“Really? I thought you hated him.”

“I do.”

“Do you normally stand so close to people you hate?”

“We weren’t standing that close, he was just trying to make me uncomfortable, like always.”

“Which you thanked him for.” Ruby sighed. “He’s not trying to make you uncomfortable, Victor.”

He scoffed. “And what else would he be doing?”

“Vic, he’s been flirting with you from the moment you met.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like he means any of it.”

“Do you wish he would?” she intrigued softly, cocking her head to the side curiously.

“What? No! Don’t be absurd. I hate him.”

His feelings were so far from hate it wasn’t even funny, but Ruby didn’t need to know that.

*

The Swan case should be nice. Emma Swan was very down to earth. She only called them at the insistence of her son Henry, who claimed he saw weird things. Victor liked her attitude.

What Victor didn’t like was how he felt when he watched her and Jeff interact.

He wasn’t jealous. He was just…looking out for Emma. He didn’t want Jefferson to bother her too much. He could be quite annoying.

Seriously, Victor didn’t understand what was the point Ruby was making. Or at least her eyebrows and pointed look. He wasn’t jealous.

Except he totally was.

*

Victor woke up after a full night’s sleep, which was a rare occasion. He lied in the bed for a moment, simply contemplating that in silence.

And then he noticed the date.

It was like a blow to the chest – he was sure his heart stopped beating for a second. His lungs refused to take the air they should. He felt so heavy – like any progress he’s made was all gone.

Just like Gerhardt.

He turned off his phone, in case of the odd possibility that his father would decide to call him, or the very real possibility that Ruby would want to talk.

He didn’t bother getting out of bed.

*

Victor was sitting on the bed in a robe, drinking vodka straight from a bottle. His eyes were red and puffy. He was the actual embodiment of a ‘before’ picture.

Someone knocked on the door. „Victor, do you have a moment?” Jefferson asked. “There’s something weird going on.“

Victor sighed, put the bottle down and opened the door. When Jefferson saw the state he was in his eyes widened.

“Victor, are you okay?”

“Just tired,” he shrugged. “What did you need?”

“It’s about the Swan case.”

“Ugh, give it a rest. We’re never gonna find anything.”

“No, there were irregularities again! I compared them to the Chambers case and-“

“There’s no such thing as magic or ghosts. Just stories people fool themselves with so their life would feel less shitty.”

Jefferson paused and then spoke in a lower voice. „Have you been drinking?“

„That’s none of your business.“

„Vic, what happened? Are you sure you’re okay?“

„Could you stop pretending to give a shit about me?!”

“What-“

“Leave me alone!” he shut the door in Jefferson’s face. Then he collapsed on the ground and started sobbing quietly.

*

“Ruby?”Ruby looked up to see Jefferson fidgeting with his fingers, wearing a concerned expression. “Have you seen Victor today? I just spoke to him and he seemed really upset. I tried to ask but he threw me out.”

That sounded very unlike him. He so rarely showed his emotion. But then she realized what could be on his mind, horrible enough that he couldn’t hide it.

“Oh god. I totally forgot that today-I’m such a horrible friend. I need to go.” She ran off and left a confused and worried Jefferson behind her.

*

There were sharp knocks on the door that made his head ache and that he instinctively recognized as Ruby’s. He wanted to hide, but it was futile. He unlocked the door, deciding to try and play it off.

“Victor? Are you okay?”

“Red! My lovely amazing friend!” Victor grinned at her but his eyes were broken and there were fresh tear tracks on his cheeks, plain as the day.

“Are you okay?” Ruby repeated.

“Sure, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Vic, how much did you drink?”

His smiled dropped. There was no point in trying to fool her. He just pointed to the almost empty bottle.

“Oh, sweetheart, what were you thinking?” Her voice was soft and considerate. She should be angry at him. He deserved it.

“I was thinking my brother’s dead and that everything hurts!”

“Victor...”

His lip wobbled and she drew him into an embrace. He started sobbing in a way she hasn’t seen him since they were children, not even after Gerhardt died. He always kept his feelings in. He had to let them out eventually.

“Shh, sweetie, it’s alright. I’m here. I’m always here for you, you big dummy. You don’t have to do this. You can just talk to me.”

“It should’ve been me,” he said, because it was the truth he was afraid to say all this time.

“Don’t say that. You know Gerhardt wouldn’t want you to think that.”

“He’s not here. It’s my fault. I should be dead, not him.”

“It’s not your fault, Victor. Gerhardt wouldn’t have blamed you and you know it.”

She was right. Gerhardt was the kindest person Victor ever met. Of course he wouldn’t blame him, even though it was his fault.

“I just miss him so much.”

“I know, Vic, I know. I miss him too.”

He cried and cried until his eyes were dry and he was completely exhausted. “Does your arm hurt?” Ruby asked.

“Not more than any other day,” he sighed. “I’m tired.”

“You should probably go sleep. I’ll leave some water and an aspirin on your bedside table, alright?”

He nodded and crawled under the covers. He wanted to go to sleep, but he still had too much on his mind. “I yelled at Jefferson,“ he whispered.

“Did he deserve it?”

“No, no, he just wanted my help with something. And he was…I think he was worried about me,” he paused. “Ruby?”

“Yeah?”

“Jeff…he…we kissed. But he hasn’t called me.”

“Maybe he deserved to get yelled at.”

Victor shook his head. “No. I haven’t called him either. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want to think about it.”

“It’s okay. We’re going to have a talk about honesty but that can wait till you’re all sober.”

“Can you stay? Just until I fall asleep. I don’t want to be alone.” He was always so alone.

“Of course, sweetheart. Whatever you need.”

*

The headache he woke up to was not as bad as it could’ve been and at least he slept through the night. Victor reminded himself that for the hundred time that morning, but it didn’t make him feel any less shitty.

He managed to leave the room and the warm blanket, which he should probably thank Ruby for, in search for coffee. The kitchen was empty except for Jefferson who was sipping his tea.

“Morning,” Jefferson said, but Victor ignored him. He vaguely remembered a fight and that was definitely not something he had the energy to deal with now.

Fortunately for him, Jefferson’s phone rang.

“Hello? Emma? Slow down, what’s going on?” His voice was urgent and panicked and Victor took a big gulp of his coffee. It would be real nice if the aspirin kicked in.

“Are you sure? Okay, okay. We’ll be right there,” he ended the call and then downed his tea. “We’re leaving in ten. Emma’s son is missing.”

Well, shit. Victor poured the rest of his coffee into a to go cup. This was going to be a long day.

*

The ride to Emma’s house was short and tense. Victor was pretty sure Ruby was going way over the speed limit, but he made no comment. They had a good reason.

Emma was visibly shaken, but she was focused on what was important. She was already putting together the evidence and theories with the help of Sheriff Graham.

She divided them into groups to make the search quicker. He was paired with Dorothy to look over the cameras and other equipment he put around the house.

They went over the footage on the camera that was put in the hallway, but there was nothing. Dorothy said they should look at the heat camera, so they did. It seemed like a waste of time until there was a flash of cold around 3 am.

“There!” Dorothy pointed. “What was that?”

“I’m not sure,” Victor admitted. He froze the frame. It wasn’t human, but what else would it be? The shape was more or less that of a person, but no one would survive a body temperature that low, much less move that fast. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

The rest of the footage was crap. Nothing else showed up, but the figure was enough. It would seem they were dealing with something paranormal. Or seemingly paranormal.

Well, he’ll be damned. Jefferson was right.

Now only if they could figure out what happened to Henry.

*

Other than the cold flash they found virtually no evidence. Everything was at the same place and there were unfortunately no cameras in Henry’s room. There was not much to be done. They knew he didn’t run away, nor was he kidnapped – not by a person, at least.

Graham and Emma did everything protocols suggested, but it got them nowhere. So Emma reluctantly admitted that there might be something going on and gave them space to try and figure out that something.

But they weren’t that much of experts. They bought a couple more heat sensitive cameras and put them around the house. There was an EMP in every room and Victor was monitoring it all. He wrote down every little fluctuation.

There was no sign of an answer.

*

Victor was finishing his fourth coffee that day when a porcelain figurine fell off the shelf and shattered on the floor. The light flickered. There were no flashes on the heat camera, but the temperature was a degree colder.

Something was here.

“Guys?” he yelled. “You should get here.”

Soon everyone was there. “The thing that fell. Was it significant?” he asked Emma, trying to get some information, because it seemed that he won’t get any from the machinery.

“Yeah. Neal…Henry’s father gave it to him.”

Right. Henry’s dead father. Well, at least they knew who they were dealing with.

“Emma, could you try talking to Neal?” Jefferson suggested. It was obvious that Emma didn’t think that would help but she was desperate enough to try anything. So she spoke and the lights flickered a couple more times, randomly and seemingly without any pattern and that was all.

*

The sun went down, Victor consumed two more coffees and they were still getting nowhere. He was currently trying to find a pattern in the irregularities on the EMP, but he found nothing. He just got out his notes on their older cases for comparison when the tablet he borrowed from Jefferson when he was assembling his monitoring station made a sound and startled him.

“Jefferson!” he called. “Grace’s calling!”

Jefferson came in and took the tablet. Victor tried his best to tune out the conversation and focus on his work. The readings from the Chambers case looked a bit similar to the new ones.

"Grace, are you okay?" Jefferson’s panicked voice broke through Victor’s concentration and he got up to see what was going on. He looked over Jefferson’s shoulder to see Grace’s room shaking slightly.

"Yes, of co-ah!" Grace shrieked as something pulled her away from the screen.

"Grace!" Jefferson called. The room suddenly had a faint purple tint. "Grace!"

"Papa!" Grace screamed and then she was gone.

"Grace!" Jefferson sobbed and would’ve fell if Victor didn’t catch him and hold him to his chest.

Dorothy and Graham ran into the room. “What happened?” he asked. Jefferson didn’t appear to notice them; he just kept whispering his daughter’s name over and over again.

“Grace disappeared,” Victor said.

*

If he had to watch the video one more time he was going to punch someone. It didn’t help them at all; it was just traumatizing for everyone. At least Jefferson didn’t have to watch it. He was in another room on the phone with his sister.

It went without a question that what happened to Grace was what happened to Henry. Sadly, that knowledge wasn’t helpful. They still didn’t know where they were.

Victor’s phone rang just in time for him to get out of watching it yet again. He didn’t recognize the number, but at that moment he would’ve done anything just so he wouldn’t have to listen to the screams.

“Hello?” he said, walking to the corridor. “Anne? What happened?”

*

It was two am and Victor stopped counting coffees.

But he finally found something.

He walked into Emma’s room, not bothering to knock because he knew no one was asleep. Emma and Jefferson both had the same blank expression on their face.

“I have a theory.”

And just with that the spark was back in their eyes.

“It’s not much. But I talked to Anne Chambers. Mr. Whiskers disappeared right in front of her eyes. She said it he was sitting right next to the mirror you broke. They didn’t get rid of it because it was antique and her grandmother loved it. The figurine Neal gave Henry was antique too, wasn’t it?”

“Yes,” Emma answered. “But what does that have to do with anything?”

“I noticed, when we were watching that horrible recording, that Grace had a pocket watch on her table. Antique, right?”

“Yeah. It was her mother’s. Grace said it stopped working a couple of days ago.”

Perfect. It all fit together.

“I called Mulan. She told me that there was a promising caller that she had to turn down because she couldn’t find the owner of the building in question. They wanted us to check out an abandoned antiques shop they believed is haunted. It’s a four hours drive away from here.”

“You think that’s where they are?”

“I think that’s where we could find what the hell is going on.”

*

Jefferson cornered Victor before they left. Victor wasn’t sure what to do so he just stood there and waited for Jefferson’s move. Which was to hug him. He clumsily hugged him back, after a moment of hesitation.

“Thank you. I just- thank you.”

“It’s alright. It’s the least I can do. I should’ve listened to you when you noticed something. I’m sorry.”

“You were distressed,” he hesitated. “Are you alright now?”

“Not really. But I think I will be one day. Are you alright?”

“I will be when I find my daughter.”

*

The four of them, since Dorothy and Graham stayed behind just in case, arrived at the crack of dawn. Victor slept the entire way, his head on Jefferson’s shoulder. Normally, he’d be embarrassed, but he was too tired to care.

The pawnshop was in a small town in Maine, not unlike the town Victor and Ruby grew up in. It somehow stayed abandoned despite being on the main street.

Jefferson picked the back door lock, so they would not attract any unwanted attraction. If things went south, Emma had her badge with her, so hopefully everything will be fine. The town looked a little deserted, though, so Victor wasn’t worried.

The only word that came to mind in regard of the inside of the shop was creepy. Thick layer of dust lied on cluttered objects, the blinds only let a sliver of light in. Victor felt like he stepped inside a horror movie.

“Okay, not weird at all,” Ruby said nervously, staring at a pair of puppets. Case in point.

“So what exactly are we looking for?” Jefferson asked.

“Anything out of the ordinary,” Emma answered.

“Everything’s out of the ordinary here,” Victor muttered. The EMP wasn’t showing anything. “Ruby, look for accounting books. Emma, there is a camera system. It’s outdated, but try to figure out if it’s still functioning. Jefferson, you are wonderful at noticing paranormal activity; do whatever the hell you do. I’ll set up the machinery.”

Surprisingly, everyone did as he asked.

*

“I found the books!” Ruby said. “It won’t be hard to find it, the shop didn’t sell much. They only sold a compass in their last year.”

There was a rustling of pages and then Ruby’s triumphant cry could be heard.“I found the watch! Sold to Priscilla March on November 10th2002.”

“That’s her,” Jefferson said. “Wait. This thing doesn’t have much dust on it.”

“Good,” Victor sighed. “At least something doesn’t.”

“No, it means someone touched it recently.” He came into the back room with an odd box. “This shop’s been abandoned for over a decade. Someone must’ve been here since then.”

“We mind have a chance to find out who,” Emma said. She was holding a bunch of VHS tapes in her hands. “It looks like the security system still works.”

She put the tape into a VHS player in the corner of the room. The screen showed the front room and nothing in it moved.

“This might take a while.”

*

The EMP showed irregularities which were bigger than usual, but still of the same nature as the previous ones. Ruby found all three items in the accounting books and Jefferson found another dustless object. This one was a dagger as if they weren’t all creeped out enough.

“Finally!” Emma cried. “Guys, I’ve got something. This is two months ago.”

They all stopped what they were doing and went to watch. There was a tall blond woman entering the shop cautiously.

She looked around for a while and then she took the box and the dagger and placed them on the counter, along with a piece of parchment she took out of her pocket. She opened the box, put the parchment in and waved the dagger over it a couple of times.

Then she put the objects back and waited. Suddenly the screen glowed purple and then the woman was gone.

*

They made the only possible decision and started to recreate what the woman done before them. They had no clue if it’ll work or where it will take them if it does.

But what other choice did they have?

Emma did the honors. Ruby was holding the tablet they were using for a video chat with Dorothy and Graham, so someone would know what happened if things turned out bad. Jefferson and Victor just stood there, clinging to one another.

Emma put the items back and they waited, holding their breath in anticipation. For a moment nothing happened and then the room glowed purple and a group of people appeared. It looked like most of them were children. Jesus.

In the front there were, oh, thank god, Henry and Grace, who was cradling Mr. Whiskers and seemed pretty calm about the whole situation.

“Henry!” Emma called and sprinted towards her son.

“Grace!” Jefferson dropped Victor’s arm and hurried to embrace his daughter. „Gracie.”

“I was right, Mum!” Henry boasted. “I was right.”

“Yeah, kid. You were.”

“Papa!” Grace giggled. “You’re squishing Mr. Whiskers!”

He let her go, but left his hands on her shoulders. “God, Grace, I was so worried.“

„Why?“ she asked, like she couldn’t think of a reason why he should be. Jefferson stared at her unbelievingly for a moment before speaking.

“Because you disappeared! I had no idea what happened to you!”

“Well,” she jutted her jaw out defiantly. “I was fine. I was with mama.” That didn’t seem to placate Jefferson. If anything, it made it worse, but Grace kept on talking. “She couldn’t come with me. But she sent someone who can help us.”

That’s when the figure that was standing in the back until then went to them.

Victor stepped back like he was burned. „Gerhardt?“

„Victor,“ his brother smiled.

At that point, it was all simply too much for him to take. _Nope_ , Victor thought right before he fainted.

*

Gerhardt tried to catch Victor when he fell, but Victor went straight through him. Luckily, Jefferson was standing close enough and had the instinct to catch him before he hit the ground.

“Victor?” Jefferson asked, shaking him slightly. Ruby put the tablet on the counter and ran to her friend’s side. She helped Jefferson put Victor down on the ground while Gerhardt hovered over them nervously.

“How have you been, Ruby?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Not bad,” she shrugged. “It’s nice to see you, I guess. I’m still kind of in shock.”

He laughed humorlessly. “I understand. How,” he hesitated. “How long has it been since I…died?”

“Two years.”

He nodded, taking it in. “And Victor? How did he take it?”

“I’m not gonna lie. He’s not okay. But he’s getting better, I think.”

“Was he hurt at all? In the accident?”

“Yeah. His arm was caught in the wreckage. They thought he might lose it for a while,” she closed her eyes for a moment. “But it’s okay now. It just hurts him sometimes.”

Gerhardt nodded, visibly uneasy. “But other than that he’s...he’s happy, right?”

Ruby was silent for a long time. “I don’t know,” she admitted eventually.

*

Victor woke up with his head in Jefferson’s lap, which all things considered wasn’t such a bad way to wake up. He didn’t even have a chance to appreciate it, all his focus going to the ghost of his brother, floating next to him.

“Gerhardt,” he whispered.

“Vicky,” he kneeled down. “Are you okay?”

Jefferson snickered in his ear. “Your brother calls you Vicky,” he said, absolutely delighted. Victor ignored him.

“How…but…you’re,” he stammered. “I thought ghosts weren’t real.”

“Well,” Gerhardt grinned. “Then you were _myth_ taken.”

“Um,” Victor started, but then decided not to say anything.

“Is he always so bad at jokes?” Jefferson asked in a voice that was probably meant to be quiet but that everyone in the room could hear.

“Hey!” Victor got back to himself as his protective instincts kicked in. “That’s my brother you’re talking about.”

“We wouldn’t want to speak ill of the dead,” he muttered. Victor elbowed him and got up.

“Uh, so, what brings you here, brother?”

“He’s here to help us,” Grace answered for him.

“Help us with what?” Jefferson asked, narrowing his eyes. That was the second time Grace mentioned something like that and he must’ve been getting suspicious, Victor though. Not that he would be the only one.

The other adult that arrived with the children spoke up then and Victor was pretty sure that she was the person on the tape. “You should probably sit down.”

*

There was a clear divide between the children’s calm and the sheer panic that united the adults. Victor had Mr. Whiskers on his lap and was cuddling with him like his life depended on it.

“I didn’t mean to cause trouble,” Ingrid, the woman who started this all, said. “I just wanted to see my sisters. But when I opened the portal I unintentionally left it opened for others to come through. The dead need an object to hold on to, so only those who had a connection to something from this shop could go. Some of them tried to contact those they loved the most. But not all of the ghosts have good intentions. We need to send them back.”

“So how do we do it?” Emma asked. “How do we send these ghosts back?”

“We need to find the thing their tied to and broke it. Some left voluntarily and so the object got broken somehow, to ensure that they won’t be able to come back. We need to do the same.”

“But I broke the mirror months before the cat disappeared.”

“The ghosts don’t feel time like we do. Mrs. Chambers decided to leave and so the mirror broke.”

“So we what? Trash this place and hope that settles it?”

“Hopefully. We don’t even have to destroy everything; I know which are the right objects. But like I said, the ghosts don’t feel time like we do. They won’t leave immediately and might put up a fight.”

Victor sighed, scratching behind Mr. Whiskers’ ears. Great. He just wanted a job. Now he had to deal with disappearing children, a crush, vengeful ghosts and his dead brother. He didn’t ask for any of this.

But there was no time for bitching now. He’ll complain later.

*

Emma dealt with the children. There were four of them, other than Henry and Grace. She called their parents, who were going to collect them at the local police station. She took Henry along with her, but Grace stubbornly stayed.

“It’s dangerous, Grace,” Jefferson gritted through his teeth.

“I’m staying with you. That’s why mama sent Gerhardt. To protect us. It’s not like he can get hurt.”

Jefferson threw his hands up. “Great. So our lives rest in the hands of a guy I can see through. Marvelous.”

Gerhardt frowned. “I don’t see what does being transparent have to do with it.”

Victor pinched the bridge of his nose. “I need coffee.”

“Quiet, everyone,” Ruby said. She and Ingrid put several objects on the counter. “This is everything. Time is of the essence so can you start smashing?”

Grace ran over there. “Hulk smash!” she giggled and threw a glass figurine on the ground.

“At least someone’s having fun,” Jefferson muttered. Between the lot of them they managed to break everything. Even Mr. Whiskers helped by clawing at the little rug.

Now all that was left was waiting it out.

Gerhardt approached Victor hesitantly. In that moment Victor was painfully reminded of the contrast between this and their closeness before. Not that things weren’t slightly awkward before Gerhardt’s death; with Victor spending all his time studying and Gerhardt joining the army, they grew apart.

They were supposed to reconnect when Gerhardt finished his tours, but... They never quite got their chance to do that.

“Vicky?” Gerhardt said, his voice small and Victor was once again hit by a wave of protectiveness. That was his little brother. He was supposed to take care of him.

“What is it, brother?” he asked gently.

Gerhardt shook his head. “I shouldn’t ask this of you.”

“Gerhardt. You can ask for anything,” then, to try and lighten the mood a little he added. “It can be your last request.”

Gerhardt let out a surprised laugh. “Yeah, that’s true. Um, I…I know I can’t talk to him, but I just…I wish I could hear papa’s voice.”

Oh. That was…Victor wouldn’t deny Gerhardt anything, not before and certainly not now, when all jokes aside this might actually be the last thing he’ll do for him. But he didn’t like it one bit.

“You don’t have to, of course,” he continued before Victor had the chance to say anything. “I know your relationship isn’t the best. Unless that changed?”

“No, it hasn’t,” Victor laughed bitterly, remembering his father’s words when he visited him in the hospital after the accident. “But that doesn’t matter. I care about you more than that.” He took the phone out of his pocket and dialed a number he so rarely used.

He put the phone on speaker. It rang loudly several times. For a moment Victor even thought he won’t pick it up, but then there was a sharp voice. “Hello?!”

“Father,” Victor said. He hasn’t really thought out what to say. He couldn’t say that Gerhardt was here; Alphonse won’t believe he and it would just be too cruel. Their conversations were always stiff, only about Gerhardt and what a disappointment Victor was. They haven’t spoken at all since the funeral.

“What is the meaning of this, Victor?” he bellowed. “How dare you call me? Especially right after the anniversary of my son’s death?”

Victor stood there, rigid as a stone.

“Did you think you’ll just call your old man, no harm?” he continued.

Gerhardt reached out to the phone, his fingers fumbling with it. “You’re not my son. And I-“ his voice stopped suddenly.

Victor looked up. “That was more than enough,” Gerhardt said. “I didn’t…I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?” Victor asked, uncomprehending. “You died. How would that be your fault?”

“It’s not yours either, though. And I shouldn’t have made you talk to him.”

“I was the driver. Who else would be at fault?”

“A tree fell on the road. Exactly how would you have prevented that?” Ruby sighed.

“I shouldn’t have driven in such weather. I should’ve been more careful.”

“You can’t change that now,” Gerhardt said. “Even if it was your fault, there is nothing you can do now. And I don’t want you to blame yourself.”

Victor looked away. Ruby mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like ‘I told you so’. It was hard to argue with that logic, but it didn’t stop him from feeling guilt.

Suddenly, Mr. Whiskers bristled and hissed.

“Uh, what’s the cat doing?” Victor asked, eager to change the subject.

“It can feel a ghost,” Grace said and petted him. “Cats do that.”

“That explains a lot,” Victor muttered. He was trying to ignore the fact that there was a ghost present – other than Gerhardt, that is.

Which worked for about three seconds, because then an entire cabinet fell over.

Someone screamed. It was probably him.

“We should get out of here,” Ingrid said and so Jefferson grabbed Grace, Victor grabbed the cat and they ran. Emma took the car, so they had no choice but to go on foot. Mr. Whiskers meowed in distress, but made stayed still.

“You can put me down, papa. I’m fine,” Grace protested.

“Like hell I will,” was Jefferson’s response.

They ran to the forest, which probably wasn’t the brightest decision. The roots of the trees moved on their own, making the run quite difficult. Ingrid tripped over one of them and splayed over the ground. Ruby helped her up and they kept on running.

The branches were growing longer and longer, obscuring their path. They kept them in the face. He wasn’t sure why did the tree grow thorns suddenly, but it did. He had cuts up and down his arms. A howl could be heard from distance.

They were still running and the forest was still getting thicker.

“Maybe we should split up!” Jefferson suggested.

“No!” Victor yelled, slightly out of breath. “That’s how you die in a horror movie!”

“Vic’s got a point,” Ruby agreed. “No splitting.”

Ingrid just grunted.

Gerhardt, who had the advantage of not having a physical body, that bastard, tried his best to keep the way clear, but he was clearly outnumbered.

They ran for what felt like forever – at least to Victor – until they came to a clearing. It seemed to be a slightly safer spot and so they stopped for a moment.

Victor’s legs gave out from under him and he fell on his ass. Mr. Whiskers was still securely in his arms, but it was obvious that he didn’t like the situation they were in very much.

“Hey, Vic,” Jefferson called. His smile was carefree, but his eyes betrayed his fear. “Are your legs tired? Cause you’ve been running through my mind all day.“

Victor sighed. “Maybe we should split up.”

“Aww, you say the nicest things.”

Gerhardt looked between the two of them. “Are you two dating?”

“No!” Victor rushed to deny. This was the last thing he wanted to talk about. “No, no, we’re not.”

“You know I don’t care that you’re gay, right?”

Victor buried his red face in his hands. So much for not talking about it. “That’s not the problem, Gerhardt. The problem is he’s an asshole and we hate each other.”

Gerhardt frowned. “And that’s why you bicker like an old married couple?”

“Ha!” Ruby called, pointing to Gerhardt and nodding enthusiastically. “I told you so!”

“We do not!” He denied again. Why did they have to talk about this now? In front of his brother and Jefferson’s daughter and while they were basically running from murder ghosts.

Jefferson looked at him sadly. “You realize I’m in love with you, right?”

Victor froze. “What?”

He…what? Did he mean that? That’s…bullshit, Victor thought. No way in hell Jefferson loved him.

“Guys!” Ingrid called out suddenly, pointing at the trees that were…walking towards them? What the hell was happening today? Victor got up quickly, holding the cat tight. “Run!”

And so they started running again and there was no time to think about it.

*

Victor was exhausted. So was everyone else, probably. They ran and ran until Mr. Whiskers jumped out of Victor’s arms and started head butting them. Gerhardt confirmed their suspicion and told them that all the ghosts were gone now.

Victor collapsed under a tree, trying to catch his breath. He could see Ingrid doing the same, while Jefferson was attempting to mother hen his daughter.

“Grace, honey, are you sure you’re feeling alright?” Jefferson inquired.

“Of course I am, papa, stop asking silly questions.”

“How’s that silly?”

Ruby walked over to Victor. “I’m gonna go call Dorothy,” she said. After a small pause she added. “And Granny.”

Victor smiled at her. “Give them my love.”

Gerhardt floated over to Victor. “Brother.”

He looked up. “Yes, brother?”

“I…I should get going.”

Victor got up and grabbed Gerhardt’s arms. Or tried to, at least. His hands went through him.

"Gerhardt. You…please."

This…why was this happening? He can’t lose him again.

"I’m not really leaving. I’ll always be with you," he whispered and tapped his chest. "In here. I love you."

“I love you too, Gerhardt.”

Gerhardt smiled at him. “Can you promise me something, Vicky?”

“Anything.” He tried to smile back, but he couldn’t.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Victor nodded, even though he knew that would be difficult. But he’ll try.

Gerhard took the pocket watch Victor always had with him out of his coat pocket and put it his hands. It wasn’t ticking anymore.

“Goodbye, Victor.”

“Goodbye,” he echoed.

And then Gerhardt was gone.

Victor fell on his knees. Tears spilled out of his eyes and he cradled the broken watch in his hands.

He knew, rationally, that this was good. This was what so many people wished for – closure. He got to see Gerhardt one last time and to say goodbye. But at that moment none of that mattered. All he felt was pain, pain of losing his little brother again.

He didn’t notice when she got to him, but Ruby was suddenly pulling him into a hug. He clung to her with all his remaining strength and wept.

He calmed down, eventually. His head was resting on Ruby’s shoulder and he was staring at the pocket watch.

Grace hopped over to them. “I like your watch,” she said, with all the grace of an eleven year old. Pun not intended. “It’s kinda like mine.”

“It was our mother’s,” he explained. His mother was dead, his brother was dead and his father hated him.

“I know a very good clockmaker. We could take our watches to him.”

“That won’t fix this.”

“No,” she agreed. “But it might help.”

*

They found their way back to the town eventually. Ingrid left on her own and they drove back with Emma. All the children were home, safe.

They made a small stop in New Holland. There was a girl who was very happy to have her cat back.

They finished shooting Emma’s episode, but they collectively decided not to mention the actual ghost sighting. They didn’t have enough proof and it was too personal.

A few days later Victor found himself at the address Grace gave him. He wasn’t sure what possessed him to leave Ruby’s couch, but here he was. He expected to see a shop or a workshop, but it was a house. He knocked anyway, hoping the clockmaker was home.

The door opened and there stood Jefferson. “Victor? What are you doing here?”

“You’re the clockmaker?”

“Ah,” Jefferson nodded. “Yeah, it’s a hobby of mine. I can look at your watch if you want to. Come on in.” He made a sweeping gesture and Victor followed him inside.

“How’s Grace?”

“She’s great. I guess children look at these things differently.”

“Probably,” Victor nodded. Not that he knew anything about children. They continued with the small talk. Victor felt tense and awkward, and he could sense Jeff felt that too, but he was nothing if not kind. Victor didn’t understand why Jefferson was so nice to him, after what he said.

He took him to a workroom. It was messy, but somewhat organized. There was a sewing machine, all sorts of tools for tinkering and a beautiful telescope.

“Grace wants to be an astronaut when she grows up,” he explained. “This room has the best view.”

Jefferson put the pocket watch on his worktable and started to fiddle with it. “Do you really hate me?” he blurted out suddenly.

“No,” Victor replied quickly. “Are you really in love with me?”

Jefferson chuckled humorlessly. “What do you think?”

“I don’t think you do. You shouldn’t. I’m really not worth your trouble.”

“You’re not-are you kidding?” he stepped closer and framed Victor’s face with his hands. “Is this okay?”

“Yeah,” Victor nodded and leaned closer. They kissed softly, tenderly.

“Does this answer your question?” Jefferson murmured.

“Uh, not really?”

Jefferson chuckled and kissed him again. And again. And again.

“I love you, Victor.”

Victor froze upon hearing the words. Why? He wanted to ask, but his mouth didn’t appear to be working. Instead he just opened and closed it a few times like a moron.

“You don’t have to say anything.”

“B-but you didn’t call me. You didn’t talk to me at all after we…”

“I wanted to but…I got scared. I figured that since you just left me there you probably didn’t like me like that.”

“That’s not true,” he said quickly and then hesitated. “Can I kiss you again?”

“Yeah, babe,” Jefferson smiled, his eyes soft. “Anytime.”

*

They ended up together; something Victor still had hard time believing. Life was pretty good, even if he missed Gerhardt. But he had Ruby and his friends and his boyfriend and his daughter. They all made sure he knew he was loved. Jefferson kept telling he even when he couldn’t say it back. He found his courage eventually.

“I love you,” Victor mumbled into Jefferson’s chest as they lied in bed together one lazy morning, when they still had time before they have to get up. He wasn’t even sure if Jefferson was awake.

“I know,” came the sleepy reply. Victor smiled and was slowly drifting back to sleep when he realized something.

“Was that a Star Wars quote?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Nerd.”

“Scruffy looking nerf herder.”

“Darling.” He could practically feel Jefferson melting under him. He called him darling once before; the word was clumsy on his tongue, but the way Jefferson’s face lit up upon hearing it made it all worth it. “We should get up. We’ve got a case.”

Jefferson chuckled. “Can’t wait to find a ghost. How about you?”

“I think this one’s a false alarm.”

“Seriously, Vic?” Jefferson shook his head. “You saw the possibilities of this world. How can you still not believe?”

“I believe in the existence of ghosts, I just don’t think they’re everywhere we go.”

“But they could be. We can’t know for su-“ he suddenly stopped talking as Victor silenced him with a kiss.

They ended up being late to work.


End file.
